From the academic session 2008-09, the oldest engineering college in the state will be upgraded to Indian Institute of Engineering Science and Technology (IIEST) — and conferred the status of Institute of National Importance — becoming a fully-funded central government institution.

With the shift in power, the West Bengal government will lose control — from day-to-day administration to admission of students — of the Shibpur campus.

The formalisation of the upgrade, a contentious issue over the past three years, comes weeks after the 150-year-old institution was closed sine die following violence on campus.

“We are very happy… Besu will now be part of an elite group of institutions and will excel in postgraduate studies and research,” said vice-chancellor N.R. Banerjea.

The state government was informed about the upgrade in a letter dated December 27 from Ravi Mathur, the joint secretary of the ministry of human resource development. It will be executed by amending the National Institute of Technology Act, 2007.

… Not just resource endowment and academic standard, the upgrade of Besu will bring in changes in the admission procedure and administrative structure.

Admissions to the institute will be through the All India Engineering Entrance Examination, instead of the state joint entrance examination.

As is the case with the National institutes of technology (NITs), 50 per cent of the seats will be reserved for students from Bengal.

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[…] Vgadityanit: [[WP:AES|←]]Created page with ‘The ””’National Institutes of Technology Act, 2007””’ was enacted by the [[Parliament of India]] to declare India’s [[National Institutes of Technology]] as [[I…’ The ””’National Institutes of Technology Act, 2007””’ was enacted by the [[Parliament of India]] to declare India’s [[National Institutes of Technology]] as [[Institute of National Importance]]. The Act received the assent of the [[President of India]] on [[5 June]], [[2007]] and became effective on [[Independence Day (India)|Independence Day]] ,2007. The ”National Institutes of Technology Act” is the second law for [[technical education]] institutions after the ”Indian Institutes of Technology Act” of 1961.[[IIEST]]s have also been proposed to be covered under this act as two separate schedules until a host of other IIESTs do not come into existence, for the time being.<ref>[http://www.orissalinks.com/?p=898 » BESU upgraded to an IIEST – to come under revised NIT act<!– Bot generated title –>]</ref> […]